[Fern]

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ADVANCED BUILDING

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Hello. It's me again. You're expected to have a basic understanding of how to do basic character building at this point...

This isn't a "how do I be meta" guide. This is a "how do I make what I want to do as best as can be" guide. If you want to run meta or non-meta or what have you is entirely your decision. Play the classes, builds, and use equipment/races you want. You are encouraged to have fun.

This can have subjective opinions. You are not expected to agree with me - these are my own personal suggestions on build optimizing!

Now then. Let's begin. Open your SL2 Calculator and join me in this ride.

WHY CUSTOM MODIFIERS ARE IMPORTANT

 

For now we're focusing on these. They are very, very important to build optimization in general. Because having the minimum stats to help your build function in PVE or PVP is mandatory most of the time. If you can't afford stats for what you plan to do, odds are that it won't work out in the majority of the cases. Accounting for stat mods you will usually have tends to alleviate this issue, and it's more prominent in some classes than others thanks to certain statuses they provide.

My personal go-to list for when I have to account for stat mods include the following:

• Equipment Stat Mods: There are several pieces of equipment in the game that provide stats, sometimes to two or four different ones. Examples include but are not limited to: Lucky Amulet (+3 LUC) / High Mage's Cape (+2 WIL +2 RES) / Fake Badge (+2 CEL +2 RES +10 HP +10 FP) / Berserker Shell (+20 HP) / etc... so if you're really desperate for stats, I'd suggest looking at equipment options that can help you afford what you want to do. Don't know what you can use? You can check the Wiki's Item List or the Dragon Hoard Museum located in Tannis for options! The wiki can be a bit outdated sometimes, but the museum generally puts up all possible equipment items on display with their potentials listed. My personal preference is to visit the museum for a precise explanation, but you can do either! Keep in mind some equipment also affect Hit/Critical/Evade/Critical/Damage Reduction and so on! Note that specific equipment, when upgraded also provide stats (I.E upgrading shoes make them give more HP/Evade.)
   
  
• Class Mod Skills: Classes tend to have innates that boost a specific stat. You can see this in one of Soldier's innate skills called Fortitude, which boosts your HP. Another example resides in Evoker's innate skill named Spiritual Domination which boosts WIL by +6 at Rank 5. These are just a few examples out of many, and it's usually worth a shot checking if the classes you plan on using have these mods in some form. And not just for stats either, sometimes there's mods for other things such as Hit/Critical/Evade/Critical Evade/Status Resist/Phys. DEF/Mag. DEF which are also very worth keeping in mind!
   
  
• Gear Enchant Mods: Equipment enchants that boost stats are indeed a thing! Here's a list of the ones you can use (as of this moment) for stat stuff:
   
  

1. Heart of Leviathan (Torso enchant): Increases max HP by 60.
    
   
2. Heart of Tannin (Torso enchant): Increases max FP by 60.
    
   
3. Giant Gene (Torso/Weapon enchant): Increases max HP by 10%, torso weight by 50%.
    
   
4. Bleached Fang (Torso enchant): Increases your Critical Evade by 25.
    
   
5. Warwalk (Foot enchant): Increases your max HP and FP by 20.
    
   
6. Miragewalk (Foot enchant): Increases your evade by 25 after using a movement skill that costs 3M or more.
    
   
7. Pitch-Black Feather (Torso enchant): Increases your Phys and Mag Armor by 1, and your Evade by 5, for every allied unit.
    
   
8. Jeweled (Weapon enchant): Increases your FAI by 2 and Light ATK by 3.
    
   
9. Firejewel (Glove enchant): Increases your STR by 2 and Fire ATK by 3.
    
   
10. Icejewel (Glove enchant): Increases your SKI by 2 and your Ice ATK by 3.
     
    
11. Windjewel (Glove enchant): Increases your CEL by 2 and your Wind ATK by 3.
     
    
12. Geoheart (Glove enchant): Increases your DEF by 2 and your Earth ATK by 3.
    

 
WARNING: YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE ENCHANT PER ITEM AT ONCE!
 

• Statuses: You are able to account for statuses that affect your stats if you really want to. Some out of battle statuses can also affect your stats (I.E wounds or Hikari's Blessing attained by donating Murai to Hikari in the Cellsvich chapel) though... my personal recommendation is to only account for statuses you'll have easiest access to. For example, the Mage base class enchants are generally a very good idea to account for when making a build that includes them, since the Auto-Enchant skill from Mage grants you the one you want at the start of the fight. Examples of those include, but are not limited to:
   
  

1. Nerhaven (Grants STR/WIL/Fire ATK)
   
2. Kraken (Grants SKI/DEF/Ice ATK)
   
3. Talvyd (Grants CEL/MOV/Wind ATK)
   
4. Galren (Grants DEF/RES/Earth ATK)
   
5. Astral Belt (Grants DEF)
   
6. Relent Gale (Grants CEL)
   Etc. 
   

Hikari's Blessing provides 2 WIL, 2 FAI and 1 HP regen, by the way, and is universally accessible by donating to Hikari. You can donate 1 Murai for 50 rounds of it, or 1000 for 100 rounds, 2000 for 200, 300 for 300.... and so on. It just has a minimum of 50 rounds.

• Food Statuses: Certain foods, upon being consumed, give a status that lasts for a certain amount of battles. Using them for builds are a valid strategy if you want to eat them before getting into fights. Here's a list of various effects off the top of my head:
   
  

1. Custard: Gives 1 MOV.
   
2. Fugu: Gives 3 STR 3 WIL.
   
3. Fugu Katsu: Gives 3% Status Resistance.
   
4. Sushi: Gives 2 STR 2 WIL.
   
5. Salad: Gives 3 VIT.
   
6. Pumpkin Lolipops: Gives 5 CEL.
   
7. Potato and Carrot Slices: Gives 3 SKI.
   
8. Jammies: 4 CEL.
   
9. Redpop: 4 CEL.
   
10. Cocky: 3 CEL.
    
11. Kat Knip: 3 CEL.
    
12. Heshe: 3 CEL.
    
13. Androbar: 3 CEL.
    
14. Chocolate Bar: 2 CEL.
    
15. Sweet Bites: 1 CEL.
     
    

My personal favorites are Salad, Fugu and Pumpkin Lolipop. Usually Salad. Keep in mind these stat mods don't apply until you go into battle, so if you're craving SKI for Skill Slots for example, you prooooobably don't want to do Potato and Carrot Slices. It's kind of a case-by-case deal.
 

OPTIMIZING WHEN YOU BUILD VIT, DEF AND RES AT ONCE / TANKS IN GENERAL
 

Health and healing become more valuable the more damage reduction you have, and damage reduction is more valuable the more health you have. I would say a strategy that tends to work out is investing enough VIT that it reaches your soft-cap, then increasing DEF/RES from there. It's usually not that good of an idea to invest all your defenses into VIT, as intimidating as having 1200 HP may look. That HP isn't too useful if it means you get hit for 300 damage a shot, when you could instead build for 950~ HP and take way less damage than that!

If you feel that your build is lacking in a defensive area, you might be able to cover that with specific equipment, racial or class ability. For example, let's say my two-hand basic attacker tank is severely lacking in magic reduction because I can only afford 50 DEF and 30 RES. You can sort of cushion this with a Nullstone Gauntlet, which grants 10 HP and 10% magic damage reduction, in this scenario. Maybe you can only afford 40 DEF/RES for whatever reason, but you can use Martial Artist's Weathered Body main class innate for 10% damage reduction to try and mitigate that weakness.

However, there are two things I want to emphasize:

1. No build is perfect. There will usually be some kind of weakness, minor or large. Attempts at making this weakness less harsh can be usually done.
    
   
2. Most damage reduction equipment, skills and statuses are MULTIPLICATIVE, NOT ADDITIVE. Meaning that if I have 50% base Phys DR and use Weathered Body, which gives 10% damage reduction? It won't become 60%. It'll become 55%.
   

Additionally, stacking Armor helps you survive even longer as a tank character. It's not mandatory, but it helps.

 

WHEN SHOULD I USE GIANT GENE OR BLEACHED FANG?
 

Normally, if your Critical Evade is low as in 30's to 40's, then you're better off using the Giant Gene enchant for your Torso slot. If it's decent, as in 55 and upwards, then it's worth a shot trying out Bleached Fang. Not getting crit'd once or forcing the crit build to stack it to reliably do it tends to be more useful than gaining 10% HP. However, if you don't care about crits, then you can use Giant Gene normally.
 

OPTIMIZING WHEN YOU BUILD CEL, LUC AND VIT / EVADE IN GENERAL

This one needs a bit more in-depth explanation, so I'll be posting screenshots so it's easier to follow what I'm saying. Sometimes it's detrimental to pump so much CEL, LUC or VIT as an evade build. More commonly CEL, since even though its base amount determines your Initiative (how fast your turn comes by in a fight) the Turn Order makes it so the fastest from X color side goes first, then the fastest from the opposition. This means that people from the opposition with lower Initiative will frequently go before you in a group battle. My two cents is that, due to this reason, you should not focus so much on stacking Initiative. You can get a good or decent amount (45+) if you really want to, but it's not mandatory in my opinion.

Now, let's pretend that we're building an evade Onigan, so we can see the possible routes we can get:

oh no, my super basic onigan basic attacker stat spread that i made for the sake of a guide example needs more hit/crit rate, but i also want it to keep the evade it has or something close to it

In this example, we are supposedly looking to fit in more Hit/Crit rate. Since you don't ABSOLUTELY need that much Initiative considering how the Turn Order works in group fights, which are the ones that usually matter most mind you....

You can lower CEL and increase LUC in order to not only try to keep an amount of evade similar to the one you had, but also attain more Hit/Crit/CritEvade in the process. Example:

Well will you look at that. I dropped CEL by 6 points and increased LUC by that. I lost 6 initiative, but I kept the 165 Evade and increased my Hit/Crit/CritEvade in the process! This is a good strategy if you don't care much about Initiative or Wind ATK. Personally, I'd say the Wind ATK loss in this case is fairly easy to ignore.

You can do the reverse for Evade builds that don't require much Hit or CritEvade, and instead lower your LUC to increase your CEL. In this case, my recommendation would be to leave your LUC at soft-cap and then increase your CEL to your heart's content (while keeping diminishing returns in mind.)

Now, let's say that you want to optimize this example build's HP. You want to know just how much HP you need for what you want to do, and how much is "too much HP." A decent guideline I personally use is to imagine the average damage you will be taking on that character, and then multiply that until it exceeds the HP you've invested.

So let's say that this 752 HP Onigan takes 150 damage on average. We multiply that 150 until it exceeds 752. If you multiply 150 x 6, you get 900. That means that we would need to have more than 900 HP to survive one more hit. In this case it would require way too much point investment than we'd like to since we're still trying to build basic attacks, so it would just be better to leave our HP where it is even if it looks small.
 

WHY APTITUDE IS USUALLY GOOD TO HAVE
 

You might be wondering why people actually invest APT (Aptitude) in builds so often. You might be wondering why people stare at you like you're insane when you don't build APT. That is because APT is very useful to have for -most- builds, though it's normally a personal choice to take it. Here's a comparison with a super basic Karaten Wind mage build:
 

This build needs more stats across the board but we don't have the stat points to add more. That's where APT kicks in. Let's try making this same build with APT included.

As you can see, we've gained more total stats across the board, and room for a few more Skill Slots while at it! The way APT works is that for every 6 Scaled APT you have, you get a +1 stat mod to all your stats. It also increases your experience gains, which is pretty handy when grinding. Note that the stats you gain from APT are modded, not base stats. Meaning that statuses like Burn which remove modded DEF will also erase the DEF pointes you've gained from APT.

 

ARE LEGEND ASPECTS WORTH IT?
 

Yes they are, but they're not mandatory. Their rewards mostly show when you have a lot of them for the stats you need. Let's say that I have a build that runs 50 STR, SKI and DEF, but no Legend Aspects. If I were to get them for STR, SKI and DEF, then I would have 3 more points to work with. So when you have a lot of them for a lot of stats you run, you're normally getting like +6 or +7 points to work with compared to someone without legend aspects. The difference is somewhat minimal, but it's overall better to have Legend Aspects if you feel like getting them. Don't feel like grinding that much? No problem, you can still kick butt without them.
 

SO WHERE IS A FULL BUILD EXAMPLE?
 

Time to make a Kensei/BK Onigan basic attacker with a Tarnada, because why not. Before and after Legend Aspects, too.

The stuff I will be accounting for will be this:

• Vorpal Dragon Remains Tarnada (Razor Blade, Locking Guard, Firm Hilt weapon parts) (Sharp, Precise, Deadly, Heavy tool qualities) (Upgraded) (Sentimentality Trait MAX)
  
• Giant Gene Insect Remains Armor of Eyes (for its nice effects that will help my basic attacking)
  
• Icejewel Bloody Palms (because the Claret Call and Hunted would really come in handy, no pun intended)
  
• Miragewalk Ogata's Waraji (this gives 2 CEL and 10% Phys damage reduction if your CEL is higher than your DEF, or if Kensei is your main class)
  
• Jupiter Badge (this gives 1 CEL 1 LUC and treats you as enchanted with Redgull for elemental impact effects, so lightning crits on most autohits Kensei/BK runs)
  
• Enhanced Swordmaster's Ring (you were wondering where the magic damage would come from, weren't you)
  
• Pumpkin Lolipop food (for that 5 CEL bonus)
  
• Soldier's Fortitude (+75 HP, along with the +6 HP shoes upgrade on a glass cannon? yes please)
  
• Kensei's Peerless (3 STR 3 SKI is nothing to laugh at, that's +6 points for this build)
  
• Capacity: Depth talent (+25 FP, in addition to +6 FP from gloves upgrade, gives me +31 FP to work with)
  

At this point, you can look into the wiki or the Dragon Hoard Museum to check out Tarnada's base stats so you slap them on the Weapon Calculations window.
 
Without Legend Aspects:

With Legend Aspects:

 

Did you see how we got more stat points to put into what we're running?
 

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS
 

• If you want to experiment with different class combos, feel free to. The game enables you to quickly change between classes and equipment. Sometimes, experimenting like this helps you find what you like and learn the game more while at it.
   
  
• Also, if you feel frustrated when trying to figure out a build, it's usually a good idea to take a break from it then come back to it later. That's personally what I do if I start getting frustrated. It's completely normal to be irritated at this sort of stuff sometimes, don't worry. I do too.
   
  
• You can generally roleplay class abilities as other things so long as they make sense in the lore. For example, you don't have to ICly use the Demon Hunter stances or exclaim them despite running that class. There are some things that can't be roleplayed as other things, I.E Mercana healing in general or the Void, but that's a small amount of cases as far as I know.
   
  
• Having several items that your build can use for the sake of variety isn't a bad thing if you want to do it!
   
  
• Focus on progress, not perfection.
  

 

Thank you for reading, and good luck with your character!